“Koch believes that Obamacare will increase deficits, lead to an overall lowering of the standard of healthcare in America and raise taxes,” Ellender wrote. “However, Koch has not taken a position on the legislative tactic of tying the continuing resolution to defunding Obamacare nor have we lobbied on legislative provisions defunding Obamacare.”

Ellender took particular offense to comments made by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Reid, speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, cited a New York Times report documenting conservative preparations for a possible government shutdown as part of a larger effort to defund the Affordable Care Act. The Times reported that the Koch brothers “have been deeply involved with financing the overall effort,” a conclusion Reid latched onto.

“What the story said is that very rich people in America who don’t believe in government have used Obamacare as a conduit to shut down the government,” Reid said, adding that the Koch brothers “have been raising and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get us where we are right now.”

Ellender, seeking to separate the company controlled by the Koch brothers from the Koch brothers themselves, wrote that Koch Industries is focused on “educating the public about reducing our nation’s debt and controlling runaway government spending.”

Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, said that Ellender was technically correct in his effort to distinguish the company from the brothers.

But, she said, “it’s a distinction without a difference.”

Although the company has not endorsed the shutdown, she said the Kochs had endorsed policies, candidates and other organizations that had either helped lead to or called for a shutdown.